Citation

Renouf A, Brendgen MR, Parent S, Vitaro F, Zelazo PD, Boivin M, Dionne G, Tremblay RE, Perusse D, Seguin JR. Soc. Dev. 2010; 19(3): 535-555.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00552.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The present study examined the association between theory of mind and indirect versus physical aggression, as well as the potential moderating role of prosocial behavior in this context. Participants were 399 twins and singletons drawn from two longitudinal studies in Canada. At five years of age, children completed a theory of mind task and a receptive vocabulary task. A year later, teachers evaluated children's indirect and physical aggression and prosocial behavior. Indirect aggression was significantly and positively associated with theory of mind skills, but only in children with average or low levels of prosocial behavior. Physical aggression was negatively associated with prosocial behavior but not with theory of mind. Each analysis included gender, receptive vocabulary, and the respective other subtype of aggression as control variables. These results did not differ between girls and boys or between twins and singletons. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.